"Colin Jost"
SmartLess hosts Sean Hayes, Jason Bateman, and Will Arnett interview Colin Jost, SNL's longest-tenured Weekend Update anchor. They discuss his Staten Island upbringing, his unlikely path from economics to comedy writing, his purchase of a decommissioned Staten Island ferry with Pete Davidson, and his current projects including a new movie and Pop Culture Jeopardy on Netflix.
Summary
The episode opens with the three SmartLess hosts in different locations — Will Arnett in Liverpool doing an event with Tommy Hilfiger, and Sean Hayes recently returned from a successful Off-Broadway run of 'The Unknown,' for which he received an Olivier Award for a previous production 'Goodnight Oscar.' The hosts engage in their typical banter about food, acid reflux, and Sean's eating habits before introducing Colin Jost.
Colin Jost joins from what appears to be his SNL office, complete with asbestos-laden ceilings he has worked under for 15 years. The conversation covers his Staten Island upbringing, including the revelation that he didn't speak until nearly age four, and when he did, he sounded like Carmela Soprano. His mother was chief medical officer at the NYC Fire Department and survived the collapse of the South Tower on 9/11.
Jost describes his unusual educational journey — commuting 1.5 hours each way from Staten Island to Regis High School in Manhattan via bus, ferry, and subway from ages 14 to 18. He then attended Harvard, initially pursuing economics before switching to Russian literature, even achieving fluency in Russian and spending a summer in St. Petersburg.
At Harvard, Jost discovered the Harvard Lampoon, which he credits as the turning point that revealed comedy could be a career. He cold-submitted a writing packet to SNL, got hired at 22 alongside Andy Samberg, Jason Sudeikis, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, and the Lonely Island guys. He spent about eight years as a writer and head writer before Lorne Michaels called him in and asked if he could do Weekend Update.
Jost candidly discusses how his early run on Weekend Update went poorly — he came in after the beloved Seth Meyers, started with Cecily Strong, and was asked to re-audition for the job he already had after six episodes. He auditioned alongside Leslie Jones, Vanessa Bayer, writer Chris Kelly, and even Anthony Jeselnik was brought in as an outside candidate. Eventually he was paired with Michael Che, and after two shaky years of not knowing if they'd be renewed, things clicked.
A highlight of the conversation is Jost recounting Che's elaborate prank where Che secretly instructed the audience before a live show not to laugh at anything Colin said, resulting in Jost genuinely believing his career was over as four consecutive jokes bombed. Jost also discusses his current impression of Pete Hegseth on SNL's cold open, which he finds nerve-wracking but exciting.
The Staten Island ferry purchase is discussed in detail — Jost texted Pete Davidson when the city auctioned a decommissioned ferry (the JFK ferry he had actually ridden to school), paid $280,000 for it, and has been trying to find a permanent dock for it in Manhattan. Despite jokes about it being a disaster, Jost argues they've made back their investment through events and are close to securing a permanent waterfront spot. His vision is for it to become an accessible middle-class swim club and event space that could seasonally relocate to Miami.
The episode ends with a clip from Pop Culture Jeopardy (coming to Netflix May 11th, Season 2) in which contestants correctly identify Sean Hayes and Will Arnett as SmartLess hosts but incorrectly name Fred Armisen instead of Jason Bateman, to great comedic effect. Jost also mentions his upcoming movie 'The Breadwinner' (May 29th) with Nate Berghetti, in which he plays a territorial stay-at-home dad.
Key Insights
- Colin Jost didn't speak until nearly age four, and his parents weren't alarmed because he appeared to comprehend everything — he just wasn't vocalizing; when he did speak, he sounded like Carmela Soprano from The Sopranos.
- Jost commuted 1.5 hours each way from Staten Island to an elite Manhattan high school (Regis) via bus, ferry, and subway from ages 14-18, riding the same ferry he would later purchase as an adult.
- Jost attended Harvard intending to study economics, pivoted to Russian literature, achieved fluency in Russian, and spent a summer in St. Petersburg — all without any career plan related to comedy.
- Jost cold-submitted a writing packet to SNL with no agent, got the timing wrong the first attempt and no one read it, then resubmitted during the correct summer window and was hired at 22 as part of a massive incoming class that included Samberg, Sudeikis, Hader, Wiig, and the Lonely Island crew.
- After six episodes co-anchoring Weekend Update with Cecily Strong, Jost was told he might need to re-audition for the job he already held — a sign of how poorly it was going; he auditioned with multiple partners including Anthony Jeselnik, who was brought in as a potential total replacement.
- Michael Che secretly instructed the live SNL audience before a taping not to laugh at anything Colin said, causing Jost to genuinely believe his career was over as four consecutive jokes died — he only learned the truth when Che told him on camera.
- Jost and Che feared being fired every summer for at least the first two years of doing Weekend Update together, and their eventual success came from Lorne Michaels giving them enough time to find their rhythm.
- Jost purchased the decommissioned JFK Staten Island ferry for $280,000 with Pete Davidson because the city auctioned it, framing it as a real estate play — 70,000 square feet of waterfront space — and claims they have already made back their investment through events.
- Jost's vision for the ferry is an accessible, middle-class swim club and event venue in Manhattan that could seasonally relocate to Miami, explicitly contrasting it with exclusive members-only clubs.
- Jost describes the experience of acting in a non-live format (for the movie 'The Breadwinner') as deeply liberating compared to SNL's live format, because the ability to do multiple takes allows for more creative risk-taking.
- Jost identifies a pattern across all his pre-comedy activities — school newspaper, plays, speech and debate — where he gravitated exclusively toward the comedy versions of each, which he says retrospectively revealed where his true interest lay even before he consciously recognized it.
- Jost notes that the Harvard Lampoon's 150th anniversary is imminent and traces its evolution from a literary magazine associated with figures like John Updike and William Randolph Hearst to a comedy pipeline that began feeding SNL in the 1970s through writer Jim Downey.
Topics
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